Medieval “Sistine Chapel” Opens in Rome
Visitors to Rome have a rare opportunity to visit a medieval church that view some of the earliest Christian iconography. The church of Santa Maria Antiqua is reopening after a 36 year renovation. It contains one of the oldest know images of the Blessed Virgin with the Christ Child as wellContinue Reading
Stories That Didn’t Happen
Stories that didn’t happen, or in another word, parables, are still with us today. How many times have you heard a supposedly true story so wonderful and meaningful that you feel disappointed when you learn the story turns out to be fiction? You may feel badly about being misled butContinue Reading
Trust In God
When we trust in God He will transform us into the person we know we should be. There was once king who ruled over a vast and beautiful kingdom. This king had a daughter whom he loved and treasured more than anything else. One day the king and his knightsContinue Reading
An Online Course in Sacred Art
You can now take college level courses in Sacred Art, how cool is that? Professor David Clayton has brought his “Way of Beauty” to Pontifex University, a web based on-line education platform. “The Way of Beauty” is offered for “audit only,” “continuing education,” or for “college credit.” Professor Clayton is theContinue Reading
Madonna, the Archbishop, the Duty of the Art Patron
Crisis Magazine has just published my article on the recent dust-up between Madonna’s current “Rebel Heart” tour and the comments it drew from Archbishop Goh of Singapore and Bishop James Dunn of Aukland, New Zealand. The point of the article isn’t so much a comment on the singer or herContinue Reading
Answering the Call
God is constantly calling us to Him, how are we responding to the call? In His Book The Hero With A Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell theorized that there is a common structure to hero stories around the world. He referred to this structure as the monomyth and broke down itsContinue Reading
How Will We Be Paid?
How we are paid depends on the work that we do. Artists in particular are frequently paid according to the quality of their work in the form of tickets sold, prints purchased, etc. What is the quality of the work we do? How productive are we as servants of God?Continue Reading
The Responsibility of Patrons of the Arts
I write quite a bit about artists and the role of art, but what about patrons? By patrons I mean anyone who patronizes the arts in all its wonderful manifestations be it paintings, novels, movies, television, or music concerts. Every time we choose a painting to display in our home,Continue Reading
The Artist as Priest
Priest, Prophet and King, all of the baptized are invested in these three offices. The degree to which they fulfill these offices will depend on their individual gifts, talents, and calling. But how, specifically does an artist fulfill the role of priest? To answer this we must first briefly examineContinue Reading
The Journey and the Gift
There was once a young boy who wanted to give his teacher a gift. The boy lived in a village many miles from the sea. His teacher once told him that his greatest desire in the world was to see the ocean before he died. But it was a difficultContinue Reading